What is it about?
Located on the Donderberg site, between rue des Horticulteurs and the Jardin des Fleuristes, the City of Brussels is planning to build a new French-language municipal school complex. The school, which will combine a nursery and primary school with 672 places, will be made up of 4 separate buildings:
- A building reserved for reception
- Abuilding for 240 nursery school children
- A building reserved for 432 primary school children
- A building reserved for sports and community facilities
The school project involves felling trees for safety and landscaping reasons, but also planting new species of tree to enrich local biodiversity. In addition, particular attention will be paid to maintaining and protecting remarkable trees, in order to preserve their ecological and heritage value. Green roofs will be installed. They promote biodiversity, reduce urban heat islands and improve the thermal insulation of buildings.
The school project plans to preserve a large part of the site in its natural state, which will remain closed to human use in order to protect the existing ecosystem. The project also includes sustainable wastewater management with storage, recovery and infiltration systems.
A 100-space cycle park is planned near the school entrance, with 83 spaces for pupils and 17 for school staff. The school complex aims to be not only an educational centre, but also a dynamic place for the local community. The sports hall and multi-purpose hall will be open after school hours to sports clubs and neighbourhood associations.
In addition to the school, the project includes the construction of 8 homes on rue des Horticulteurs. The homes, which range in size from studios to 3-bedroom flats, have been designed to appeal to a variety of households. An underground car park with 17 spaces and a ground floor reserved for a liberal profession complete the programme. The template varies between R+2 (to create a link with the existing houses) and R+4.
What purpose?
This project meets the following ambitions and objectives:
- To rationalise the management and use of municipal sites by applying the concept of chrono-urbanism
- To give priority to refocussing the city's facilities and services within multi-purpose neighbourhood facilities hubs
- To address the lack of green spaces and public facilities
- To implement a policy of activating roofs to prevent overheating in municipal public buildings
- To strengthen the resilience of the Molenbeek catchment basin in light of the growing risk of flooding by preserving existing green areas and incorporating rainwater management into construction and renovation policies in an optimum manner
- To speed up the development of a cycle network and provide appropriate cycle parking facilities
- To enhance and preserve biodiversity reservoirs
- To guarantee affordable housing for all
- To increase the proportion of 3-bedroom+ homes in the Brussels housing stock aimed at families
